Changing Lives, Saving Lives

Helping students develop healthy lifestyle habits and make smart choices is critical—and it isn’t easy. There’s a huge difference between teaching them about the importance of nutrition and physical activity and getting them to change their attitudes and behaviors, especially when the influences of friends, the media, the environments in which they live and their family experiences and preferences are strong. It’s not enough to add an activity or two and hope for the best. While that might make a difference in the lives of a few children, much more can and must be done.

This guide is written for afterschool program directors, members of leadership teams, site directors and partners with afterschool programs. If you work as a team, it will provide you with the tools you’ll need to integrate these practices into your program and at your sites—in a way that will help you achieve the results you want, and that children, their families and your community deserve.

Each chapter defines and explains a particular practice and offers a variety of concrete examples of how the Healthy Behaviors programs have developed and strengthened their approaches, overcome obstacles and achieved their goals.

This material was developed as part of the Center for Collaborative Solutions’ (CCS) Healthy Behaviors Initiative (HBI). HBI is made possible by funding from The California Endowment, the David and Lucile Packard Foundation and the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) Network for a Healthy California (Network) at the Public Health Institute, via funds from the USDA Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (formerly the Food Stamp Program).